I have been playing the game for awhile, (loving it!), but new to the forum part of it just recently. I have a question for some of the long-timers, is there an opportunity to start a league new at season 1? If so, what do you have to do to get into one? Thanks for any help.

The problem with new worlds is that they dilute the pool of players even further. A lot of worlds have long wait times between seasons as it is. Adding new worlds adds to the wait time (for most). It's a novelty, being in a new world, but it wears off quickly. If you are looking for one, watch the classifieds and look for new "theme" based leagues. My personal hope, however, is that there are no new worlds started until the average wait times decrease. There was a flurry of new worlds about 12-18 months ago; I'd be surprised to see many more in the near future.

Posted by bglick on 1/28/2013 11:50:00 PM (view original):Well how does one join private worlds? Personally, it sucks taking over a team in the middle because usually the team is in bad shape and you have to spend several seasons correcting it....

That's pretty much the point of HBD. It's a simulation of MLB. Generally, MLB GMs don't get canned if they have winning ML teams & solid MinL systems. New MLB GMs start work for teams in some degree of crap. Exactly how it is most of the time in HBD. This isn't an instant satisfaction game. It's a long-term strategy game.

Well, since you didn't answer the question, you can find a private world one of two ways:
1. The classifieds. Good commishes are seeking replacements well before the world rolls.
2. World Center, View Private Worlds. You can see how many openings and the contact the commish thru there.

If you have a good track record there are teams in very good shape that come available in private leagues. You just have to investigate the league and teams that are available and find one that fits what you want.

Posted by bglick on 1/28/2013 11:50:00 PM (view original):Well how does one join private worlds? Personally, it sucks taking over a team in the middle because usually the team is in bad shape and you have to spend several seasons correcting it....

That's pretty much the point of HBD. It's a simulation of MLB. Generally, MLB GMs don't get canned if they have winning ML teams & solid MinL systems. New MLB GMs start work for teams in some degree of crap. Exactly how it is most of the time in HBD. This isn't an instant satisfaction game. It's a long-term strategy game.

MLB Gms aren't spending their own money correcting the mistakes of past GMs, they're spending the money of their owners. It's pretty stupid to ahve to pay for 4 seasons before your team can become ok again.

Posted by bglick on 1/28/2013 11:50:00 PM (view original):Well how does one join private worlds? Personally, it sucks taking over a team in the middle because usually the team is in bad shape and you have to spend several seasons correcting it....

That's pretty much the point of HBD. It's a simulation of MLB. Generally, MLB GMs don't get canned if they have winning ML teams & solid MinL systems. New MLB GMs start work for teams in some degree of crap. Exactly how it is most of the time in HBD. This isn't an instant satisfaction game. It's a long-term strategy game.

MLB Gms aren't spending their own money correcting the mistakes of past GMs, they're spending the money of their owners. It's pretty stupid to ahve to pay for 4 seasons before your team can become ok again.

Happens in real life. For instance, wrong sport, but - see: NEW YORK JETS

It's not stupid to have owners spend 4 seasons with their own money to build up their franchise.The game is not static, and teams rise and fall as time passes. Most of the time you're not fixing past GM's mistakes as much as you are taking an aging franchise and rejuvenating it. That 36-yo slugger in the 4th year of a 5x20M deal might look like a mistake to you, but if he helped a team contend for 2-3 titles, it wasn't a mistake. This game would lose a lot of its appeal if you could "fix" a franchise in one season.

Posted by bglick on 1/28/2013 11:50:00 PM (view original):Well how does one join private worlds? Personally, it sucks taking over a team in the middle because usually the team is in bad shape and you have to spend several seasons correcting it....

That's pretty much the point of HBD. It's a simulation of MLB. Generally, MLB GMs don't get canned if they have winning ML teams & solid MinL systems. New MLB GMs start work for teams in some degree of crap. Exactly how it is most of the time in HBD. This isn't an instant satisfaction game. It's a long-term strategy game.

Honestly, you are far better off taking over a team in an established world because you can preview the roster and prospects, and gauge if it fits your needs, and if not, move on to another.

At the creation of a world, what type team you get is a crapshoot. Rosters aren't generated until the World is full, so you have zero idea what type squad you're going to get. It's pretty much assured that the roster you'll inherit will include a couple 40 year old geezers with three years remaining on their contracts, the rest beng mostly middling players with large contracts, maybe a couple of young gems. If you're fortunate you'll have strong prospects and a high draft selection, but again totally random. I've seen new teams with a horrible roster, no prospects, and a low draft pick.

Since I've started 4 worlds, I think I'll weigh in here...Mike and other are 100% correct. Some of the worst teams I've ever seen have been Season 1 teams. The ONLY difference between taking a team over in World XYZ in Season 14 and starting from Season 1 is if you are in the world long term and can see players/teams rise and fall. That being said, you'll get the same thing starting in Season 14 with World XYZ once you stay long enough...there will just be others who were there from Season 1-13.